WAC stands in front of the historical double sensation from Wolfsberg!

WAC stands in front of the historical double sensation from Wolfsberg!

Wolfsberg, Österreich - On May 15, 2025, the Wolfsberger AC (WAC) could write history by winning the double. This would hardly be imaginable and would be celebrated as the greatest sensation in the history of the Austrian football championships. Historian Matthias Marschik draws a comparison to Leicester City's championship in the Premier League 2015/16, which was also a surprise. The WAC would be the first Austrian champion to come from a city with less than 25,000 inhabitants - Wolfsberg - what makes the possible achievement even more remarkable. Because Leicester City started in 1995 as an outsider with a quota of 5000: 1 and in the end won with a ten -point lead on Arsenal.

This extraordinary success would place the WAC in a number of other sensationalists worldwide, including Nottingham Forest (1977/78), 1. FC Kaiserslautern (1997/98) and Deportivo La Coruna (1999/2000). Only a few comparable surprises are known in Austrian football history, such as the title of Floridsdorfer AC in the 1917/18 season or the championship of SC Hakoah Vienna in 1924/25, which was then celebrated as a great sensation.

historical championships and monopolism

until 1918 the Austrian championship was almost exclusively a matter of Vienna, dominated by Rapid and other Viennese clubs. This only began to change in the 1960s when LASK won the championship as the first club from the federal states in 1964/65. The Admira followed in 1965/66 and secured the double, also supported by a potent sponsor. Sponsoring plays a crucial role in today's football and financial means in many cases lead to sporting success.

teams from larger state capitals such as Innsbruck, Graz and Salzburg have celebrated success in recent years, which are very much due to financial support and generous funding from the city and the country. These clubs also benefit from wider fan potential and access to financially strong sponsors, which the WAC is partially lacking. Historically, the dominance of the Viennese clubs such as Austria and Rapid was unchallenged until the early 1990s. However, some successes at that time also led to financial problems, as the insolvencies of FC Tirol and Sturm Graz show.

The transformation process of Austrian football

Austrian football is in a transformation process that is due to strategic developments and a solid basis in youth and width football. These changes could improve WAC's opportunities for long -term success, but also moves away from the traditional dominance of the Viennese clubs. The Austrian national team has already qualified for the Euro 2024 in Germany, which is a positive sign of the development of football in the country.